Cheap Don't Look Now [Region 2] (DVD) (Nicolas Roeg) Price

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Customer Reviews of Don't Look Now [Region 2]

In the company of the grim reaper
On a bright autumn day a little girl drowns in a pond near her home. Her unsuspecting parents, John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter(Julie Christie) are discussing idly when suddenly, and against any logic, John, overcome by a feeling that something is wrong, bursts out of the house. He finds the small body floating and drained from life; his howl of desperation signals the tragedy and absurd terror that are only just beginning to unfold.
Still grieving the loss of their daughter, the Baxters go to Venice where John is working as an architect in charge of a church restoration. They are still trying to cope and collect the pieces of their broken lives when they meet two strange sisters, Heather, who is blind and claims to be a medium, and Wendy. Laura collapses when Heather tells her that she has "seen" her dead daughter and that she is happy. When Laura comes round she is in a state of abnormal elation, convinced that the spirit of her daughter is still with her. John has none of that but much to his frustration Laura falls under the spell of the two sisters. Heather warns the Baxters that something terrible will happen to them. Her prophecy is partly fulfilled when John has a near fatal accident in the church. At the same time the Venetian police is puzzling over the identity of a murderer dispatching bodies in the canals. John and Laura have an intimate if rather brief encounter back in their hotel. But bliss and happiness will not last. Not for them, not any more. Their relation strains under the combined weights of paranoid fear, guilt, anxiety and death. The ending of the film is the missing bit of the puzzle - merciless, unforgiving, shocking. And all that is left is the desperation of a lonely tragedy.
"Don't Look Now", based on a Daphne Du Maurier story, is a multilayered masterpiece and arguably Roeg's finest film. This is one of the select few films where the form informs the content and the content is reinforcing the narrative structure and the formal vision of the director. Roeg weaves an almost experimental narrative where illusion takes over from reality. His editing makes deliberate use of subliminal images that surface meaningfully only at the end. Against any conceivable cinematic convention, Roeg shifts freely from present to past and then to future events. Flash-backs and flash-forwards succeed in conveying a sense of psychological disorientation, reflected in the labyrinthine structure of Venice. The film is superficially about premonitions and faith. But the leitmotif is the fleeting nature of love and the omnipresence of death. Death is the dark companion that walks with John and Laura in the foggy Venetian alleys. Their genuine love and understanding for each other cannot save them from the certainty that all you love will one day perish. But it is their love scene that ultimately lingers in mind; Roeg interspersed masterfully this scene with routine daily tasks (Laura taking a bath, John brushing his teeth, both dressing to go out) thus conveying the intimacy that governs the married life of John and Laura. Time and again people have noted that the love scene looks and feels authentic (without ever being gratuitous), so much so, that some are convinced that Sutherland and Christie were actually making love. Be that as it may, it is Roeg's directorial mastery that imbues the scene with flesh and blood and brings it to life: John and Laura are genuinely in love. Very rarely before or after this film has a director ventured so successfully in romanticising married life.
The poignant use of Venice as a backdrop to the drama is a masterstroke. Roeg treats the old city, as many others have observed, as an additional character. The cinematography is brilliant, Venice is shot in a Caravaggio-like chiaroscuro, winter colours bringing to the fore a dark and sinister character surely not to be witnessed by summer visitors. This is a dreamy, quasi-magical world, complete with mirrors, carnival masks, dwarfs and crumbling churches. At the end of the day, Venice is reflecting the emotional state of the Baxters. John and Laura loose themselves in Venetian alleys in the same way they loose their grip on reality. The emptiness of the city during the winter mirrors the emotional vacuum and desolation in their hearts after the loss of their daughter. The additional subplot of the murders in the city is crucial as it creates an ever tightening noose of suspicion, anxiety, fear and death.
Pino Donagio's score is spot on, evocative and haunting at the same time. Sutherland and Christie are impeccable, offering understated, sensitive and nuanced performances. Christie has an outstanding autumnal beauty and kindness, ever so slightly teetering on the edge. Sutherland, in a great male tragic role, is resigned to the facts of life, and provides a performance which is difficult to be matched (as indeed is the wig he is wearing throughout the film).
Without a shadow of a doubt this is a difficult film to watch, what with the shattering ending or the complex narrative. Yet it is crystal clear that it has the rare profundity only to be found in a handful of films. It rewards multiple viewings and I warmly recommend it.

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Supernatural horror art film with a twist
I must say, this movie definately falls under the same category as other excellent films about the supernatural (i.e. The Sixth Sense and What Lies Beneath). And like those films that would come nearly three decades later, this film has an unexpected plot twist that makes you think and takes you by surprise. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are nothing but excellent in the roles they are given, and the plot is definately, and enjoyably ambiguous. Not only are there plenty of twists and turns in this film, there are plenty of shocking moments that are just unexpected. Truth be told, I think the lovemaking scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie was really the real thing. Much like the ones depicted between Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret in Magic and Bruce Dern and Maud Adams in Tatoo. Overall, Don't Look Now is a very suspenseful horror art film. One that is not only a classic, but one that is truly bound to make you jump and think about a few things.

If you like this film with Donald Sutherland, you will also like his roles in MASH, The Dirty Dozen, Kelly's Heroes, Bear Island, Revolution, and Ordinary People.

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PUT THIS OUT ON DVD!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with the other reviewers who praise the movie's virtues. I just wanted to scream PUT THIS MOVIE OUT ON DVD!!!!!! That's all.